Postage stamps and postal history of Singapore

Postage stamps and postal history of Singapore

1985 stamp of Singapore, showcasing its residential areas

Postage stamps and postal history of Singapore surveys postal history from Singapore and the postage stamps issued by that country and its various historical territories until the present day. Postal service in Singapore began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps. Singapore is an island country off maritime Southeast Asia, located between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.

The island, which was then known as Temasek, rose in importance during the 14th century and became an important port, but was destroyed by Portuguese raiders in 1613 and became relatively obscure within the next two centuries.^[1] In 1819, British colonist Stamford Raffles established a trading post on the island. Within the next few decades, Singapore grew in importance again, rapidly becoming a major port city as the capital of the Straits Settlements. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945, being renamed Syonan-to. After the war, Singapore reverted to British control, with increasing levels of self-government being granted, culminating in full self-governance and soon after a merger with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. However, it was a brief union and Singapore would become an independent republic on 9 August 1965.

Today, Singapore had become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly developed free market economy and robust international trading links. It now has the highest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Asia, which is 2nd in the world, and it is ranked 9th on the Human Development Index (HDI).^[2][3] Today, the country also ranks highly in categories relating to quality of life, particularly education, housing, human capital, healthcare, life expectancy, safety and transparency.^[4][5]

Throughout its history, there were various postal administrations with corresponding issues of postage stamps in Singapore. Its public postal service is spearheaded by Singapore Post (SingPost), a postal service and courier company that has been the country's designated Public Postal Licensee (PPL), providing both domestic and international postal services. Singapore is a member state of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).^[6]